Polls: Shutdown damages 2014 GOP prospects

With the government shutdown nearing the two-week mark, the Republican Party’s brand and its 2014 prospects are taking a hit, according to a new national survey commissioned by a Democratic firm.

The poll, conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, found that voters blame the GOP more than Democrats for the shutdown by a 43 percent to 27 percent margin. And it found that just 26 percent of voters view the Republican Party favorably, compared with 52 percent who view it unfavorably.

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When respondents were asked what party they planned to support in next year’s midterm elections, 46 percent said Democrats and 36 percent said Republicans.

In a memo released Friday, the firm wrote that “the voting public is fed up with just about everyone in Washington, but Republicans are clearly bearing much more of the anger and it is damaging their prospects for 2014.”

The results mirror those of the NBC/Wall Street Journal survey released Thursday, which found that voters blame Republicans for the shutdown by a 53 percent to 31 percent margin. In that poll, just 24 percent expressed a favorable view of the GOP and Democrats led the generic ballot by 8 percent.